5 bottles for the collection for this first 5 months

Some days ago I made an entry about the best 5 IPAs I had found here, today the selected theme will be 5 beers that I chose mostly by its design, and without waiting from them the maximum limits, some of them have been good enough. As some of you already know, I collect empty beer bottles, and these 5 will have an important place in my collection due to the worked and good graphics on their bottle. Without talking much more, I will start the resume and the descriptions.

1- Commemorative beer for the Football League Championship (Eredivisie) won by Ajax this year, 32th in their trophy room. I saw the bottle in a little shop near the crossing between Bilderdijkstraat and Kinkerstraat, 75cl, red and black colours and all the information about the year, the trophy, a football song for the stadium (I guess) and cork cap. Tripel, 8%, and not more info in the label, no more info on the web, even the brewer or the place. I shared the beer in the park some days later, and that's why I don't have any looking or colour references. About the rest, sweet aroma as a classical tripel one, thick body and sweet flavour with some strong rest of malts, caramel or even coffee.

QUICK RESUME: I was hoping a Heineken or something like that ("Tripel 8%" is written in tiny letters), and I got some good beer. I hope they win again next year...

2- Trooper: I'm not the biggest fan of Iron Maiden, but they make good disc covers and here we have the one for the same disc, with the zombie skeleton and a destroyed rag as the British flag.  If we read the bottle, the beer is ALE, and it is made by Robinson's brewery in England, following a recipe made by the band's vocalist. Half litre bottle, because third of the litre sometimes is too short, and light alcoholic percentage, only 4,7%. InOn the back we can read all the recipe details, such as Bobec, Cascade and Goldings hops, and some information of the Balaclava battle, which inspires the song. I shared the beer with two friends, but this time it was poured in the glasses. Light amber coloured, not so much foam, fresh aroma and original. In the mouth, some more good surprises, light body, citric and malty flavour and some hops at the ending, everything very balanced.

QUICK RESUME: They can do better, but if we see that it is just a marketing product, I could say has enough quality/price balance.

3- Vdaco Bvba Shark Pant IPA: A IPA, and some cool label, the perfect combination... The label shows a gorilla, hitting the chest with his fists, dressed in Shark tail pants, with a yellow and green spiral at the back. A fashionable belgium style IPA, and more details about the recipe is what we can see, as the alcoholic percentage, kinda high 9%. In the right side of the gorilla, you can see a death dedicatory with RIP and the dates, and under this you can also read that having 300IBUs, is probably the most hoppy beer in Belgium. In the glass you can see an amber, muddy beer, with hard white foam, although not so abundant. Strong hop and alcohol aroma, medium body, and about flavour, the beginning is just alcohol covering other details that appear as the ending arrives. These are hoppy points, with some herbal freshness.

QUICK RESUME: I am not the best friend of these strong alcoholic flavours, bu this beer had something else that made it special, not only the design.

4- Muifelbrouwerij Lentebock: Another style I discovered a few months ago, and fits with my beer preferences. The label, the image of a horny-muffle (An animal with more twisted horns that Rajoy and barcenas relationship), and lentebock letter on a green backwards (6,5%). Little more besides the basic information at the left side, with a very beautiful photo, very well chosen and with no messages we know on it. As I served, it was falling in the glass with nice amber colour, almost like an IPA, with two perfect fingers of hard white cream. Very good looking, with herbal and fresh aroma, with some hop notes and some others as caramel a bit more hidden. In the mouth, quite thick, fresh, just the right toasted bitterness from the malts, some pine, vanilla, and a hoppy and herbal ending quite short but very intense.

QUICK RESUME: I will repeat, for sure. Good local product at a very reasonable price.

5- Hobbybrouwerij Het Nest Schuppenboer: Belgian tripel with 8,5%, and the jack of spades holding a jar of beer, all completed with some golden details and the letters in black. Golden back part with a black spade, and the recipe with Cascade, herbs and some sugar. Little more, but I like cards designs, so here she is. It has some light golden and transparent colour, maybe too light and transparent to be a tripel, and a crown of compact foam. Classical sweet notes with some caramel, and even some coffee points in the nose. Medium body, quite thick if you see it before, and sweet flavour with a lot of malty points, light and balanced, with some final hop notes in the short aftertaste, but with no much alcoholic flavour in any moment.

QUICK RESUME: It will fall again, not too expensive and quite good to start getting the drunk point.

And that was all about this entry and these 5 beauties, that are waiting for a nice place to be placed (Besides this blog). I hope you also liked the designs, and that you will be there to keep reading about more beers. See you soon beer lovers, keep beering!